Economic Impact Rio Bravo RV Resort (information courtesy ACEDC) Approximately $5 to $7.5 million dollar project utilizing local contractors as much as possible. Approximately 17 FTE s year round including seasonal and full time employees at an average wage of $25,000 to $30,000/year. An increase in property taxes of approximately $65,000 per year Increase in local sales tax (County and City) of between $75,000 and $100,000/year Increase in Bed Tax (both taxes total) of an additional $25,000/year Building Permit Approximately $10,000 Letters of intent from at least 3 additional retail businesses looking to locate in Alamosa because of this proposal. The businesses range from one small downtown type business to two large RV related businesses that are new and currently unfilled niches in the community. The average RV r spends between $25 and $40 per day in town and the demographic seems to favor local eating and shopping that will boost the local economy. The intention of the resort owners is to work with the golf board to provide golfing to the resort members. Higher level resort memberships may include a free one year membership while lower level resort memberships may include reduced price golfing or free rounds. The increased numbers of visitors to the immediate area should also help make the restaurant at the golf course viable enough to sustain an establishment where we have struggled in the past. Financing will be done through a local bank. Ownership The ownership group consists of 4 owners, three of which will be full time residents of Alamosa. - The first owner is a local architect and has lived in Alamosa with his new wife for a few years operating his own architect office in downtown Alamosa. - The second owner is from Texas and has been coming to the San Luis Valley for several years. He recently lived in a similar resort between Colorado Springs and Denver, but is now living in an RV Park in Del Norte. He will relocate to this resort when it is built. - Owner number three was born and raised in California and is currently living in the Coast to Coast Resort between Colorado Springs and Denver. His wife is a nurse who is looking for employment and is also hoping to open a business here. They will be living at the resort full time as well but are discussing options to move here as soon as possible. - Owner number four lives in Colorado now and will likely not be moving here. Coast to Coast is NOT an owner in any way. It could be equated with having local ownership of a chain hotel. There are advantages to having the chain connection in terms of marketing etc but here is no ownership. Coast to Coast will, however make sure that just like a hotel; the resort is up to their high level of standards.
Infrastructure questions The developers will be responsible to pay for all costs related to bringing infrastructure to the development. Those costs will include but may not be limited to - New main water line and all metering and hook ups costs including a water replacement plan with the City. - New sewer lines including needed lift station - Extension of natural gas lines - Paving the road to the entrance of the resort (The developers have committed to paving the entire Disc Golf Course Road including the parking lot.) - All costs of bringing needed electrical supply to the location. The Resort is looking into bringing in broadband for their use. That broadband might then also be available to nearby homeowners. It appears the City has no right of way through some of the private land included in this proposal and through one other property at the entrance. The developers will handle those issues through purchase of properties and moving the road at their expense. The new road design will conform to City of Alamosa construction specifications. Affect on existing and proposed trails and river use. There are some right-of-way issues that interfere with the existing trail on the river levee in the area of the private land. Those issues will be dealt with either negotiating an easement with the City or even the outright transfer of property to the City. This insures public access to all trails in the area. There is an active community effort to expand the use of the river corridor and trail system in the nearby area. This project will have no negative impact to that effort. To the contrary, the developers appreciate the trail system as a benefit to their project and have expressed a desire to help that effort financially. The owners, City staff and City Council have expressed wishes to possibly change boundaries in some areas to further separate the project and existing recreational use. Depending on actual negotiated boundaries, the distance to the closest point on the river is approximately 1700 feet. Current use of the proposed property is ONLY by cattle grazing on the ranch property through a lease with a local cattle owner. The proposed site is marginal cattle pasture with no trees, no birding, and no wetlands. There is one proposed trail bordering the site to the north and east that would not be negatively impacted by the proposal but would be a benefit to the customers of the resort. The Inspire grant describes this location as a site for potential winter trail and activity location. City staff believes this may be relocated elsewhere on the ranch. There has been some concern over losing public access to public land for private use. There has been little to no public use of this property in tha past due to cattle grazing. There have also been concerns about disturbing wildlife habitat. There is currently no recognizable use of wildlife on the proposed site. The developers have also offered to help with amenities at the existing trailhead locations in the area such as enhanced parking for the Disc Golf course including restrooms and picnic tables.
The appearance of the lack of transparency As with all economic development projects, there are no public conversations until enough due diligence has been done to get to a point where those involved see that the project may be viable. At that point, any public forums are held in order to legally and transparently allow public process only if local government action is needed. If no action is needed, most development simply pulls the appropriate building permit and proceeds forward. Due to this project s request of public property, a City Council Work Session was publicly posted to see if Council would even entertain the idea of selling City property, in this area, to these park owners. No decisions can be made at that type of meeting other than to move forward with the process or not to move forward. That process, in this case, consisted of drafting and announcing an RFP for the proposed area. The process allows the owners to prepare a proposal that City Council would then entertain at an open and regular City Council meeting. At that point Council can decide if the project warrants moving forward with selling the property or not, and to negotiate details of the sale. At no time has or will this project operate outside the lines of public notice or transparency. Contrary to rumor, this is not a done deal. Traffic Management and Access Resort traffic will exit off Highway 17 at Splashland where CDOT already has turn lanes allowing safe turning in both directions. They will then travel west to and on the North River Road for a total of just over one mile to the Disk Golf Course Road. The Resort entrance will be approximately.2 miles west on the Disk Golf Course Road. There will be NO RV traffic access to the resort through existing neighborhoods at the golf course with the current proposal. Destructive Use, Trashy Neighbors, Noisy and Diesel Smell Coast to Coast requires extremely high levels of added amenities such as swimming pools and clubhouses for activities, along with inspected and rated upkeep and general appearance of their resorts. The intent of this resort is to be the highest level resort Coast to Coast recognizes. In order to do so, there will be a standard of RV allowed. There will be quiet hours enforced All exterior lighting will be Dark Sky type lighting designed to reduce - Glare excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort - Sky glow brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas - Light trespass light falling where it is not intended or needed - Clutter bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources Generators and the smell of diesel will be eliminated through access to 100 amp hookups at all sites. The owners resort design will be full of landscaping including grass for every space and trees located throughout the resort. There will also be a tall and likely shaped, privet or privet-like shrub exterior landscape barrier to provide a visual barrier.
Why this location? This site consists of two parcels. - One is located within the north edges of the golf course and is already privately owned by this group. While a good fit for the RV resort idea, it is not big enough to meet their needs. The original intention as to use the remaining private land within the golf course, but the owners believe that is better fit for adjoining golf course home lots. - Therefore, in order to meet the land needs of the resort, the group asked for the possibility to purchase an additional 35 acres of City ranch property adjoining the private parcel but across the disc golf course road. Obviously people on vacation like beautiful locations to camp as much as we appreciate them. The beautiful views and nice location, the proximity to the golf course, trails for hiking and biking, wildlife, birding, photography, access to hunting, fishing and skiing and other outdoor recreation, access to National Parks and beautiful drives. The golf course location includes or is surrounded by all of these attractions. It has been suggested that they look at the desolate land out near Blanca where nobody lives and it s hard to put houses because the cost is so expensive to drill Wells put up electrical Etc I think they answered their own objection. Phased Project The project, in its current proposed form, would consist of two phases of construction. - Phase I would be on the proposed City property- This is due to several reasons. The main swimming pool and clubhouse will be on that property and that phase will be open to all ages. It will also be quickest to build allowing for an earlier business start and quicker payback on financed money. This phase will be open all year. - Phase II would consist of RV spaces reserved for over 55 RVrs keeping the impact to golfers to a minimum. This phase is expected to be closed during winter months. Other Considerations Approximately 62,000 RV s visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park last year alone with no place to camp! There is a three year wait to reserve campground space at the Dunes. And visitation to the Dunes has doubled in the last five years. As a community, we have worked for years to find a way to bring those visitors in to the community. The addition of an RV resorts helps move us toward that goal in a very real way. The owners are very willing to work with the community and have proven to be very flexible. Some of those conversations have included - There have been concerns that the proposal may decrease surrounding real estate values. While the actual result could be debated, lots currently plotted within the golf course, but not included in the RV resort will be re-plotted to have fewer, larger lots in order to increase value and decrease home density in the area with the intention of increasing surrounding real estate values.
- The possibility of fair market land swaps for land they currently own in the golf course and may provide better wildlife habitat for what they have proposed on the ranch property which has little to no wildlife habitat value. - Moving the boundary from the proposed drawing location to one closer to the North River Rd and away from current recreational activities. - The public has asked for access to the resort from public/non-member RV rs. This is allowable by Coast to Coast and details are being discussed. The proposed site is not and never has been designated open space. It is simply space that is open. At or around the time the City did their Alamosa City Ranch Management Plan (RMP), August 12 Revision, Other research was done and was taken into account in the development of the RMP. However, if those recommendations were not included in the RMP, they were never adopted by the City. Any description of the intended use of the Ranch that is not included in the RMP is not considered part of the Council adopted Ranch Management Plan. According to the RMP, the ranch was purchased for two primary reasons: to acquire the senior water rights associated with the property and to use is as a source for soil that was needed by the US Army Corps of Engineers to build the levee on the south and west sides of the Rio Grande for flood control. One of the goals of that RMP is to Maintain flexibility for use of the property to be able to meet future economic and civic needs to include providing the residents of Alamosa with a supply of water for future use.